Army rejects social media allegations against its chief

Bangla Press Desk:   The Bangladesh Army published a Facebook post on Monday, rejecting “ill-motivated and unfounded” allegations against Chief of Army Staff General Waker-uz-Zaman.

A vested group is attempting to create divisions between the Army and countrymen by distorting remarks made by the army chief at an event last week, said an army statement published on its Facebook page.

At the event held at Dhaka Cantonment, the army chief emphasised legal protection for army personnel as they have been deployed across the country for executing various authorised law enforcement tasks, including dispersing illegal gatherings.

The interim government’s relevant agency has already been notified about the necessity of such legal protections, the statement read.

However, like always, vested groups, particularly individuals living abroad, have distorted the army chief’s statements and misrepresented a relevant research work discussed during the event, the army said.

The conspirators claim the army chief stressed “indemnity” for those former and present personnel who “committed crimes against humanity.”

However, General Waker did not refer to any such issue when calling for troops’ legal protection for actions performed in support of civil administration.

“The general public is kindly requested to remain vigilant against such misleading and false information,” the army said in its statement.

The 30 September event was organized to explore ways to make the activities of the military, engaged in assisting the civilian administration, more effective and dynamic, as per the statement.

The deployment of military personnel under the country’s prevailing laws and its various challenges were discussed at the event. A relevant research paper was also presented.

In the discussion, sections 127–132 of the Bangladesh Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), applicable for “In Aid to Civil Power,” was discussed. Furthermore, various aspects of maintaining law and order at the field level through the application of “magisterial powers” currently granted to the military were highlighted.

The main objective of this event was to enable the deployed military units to accurately understand the relevant legal provisions and professionally and efficiently carry out their assigned duties through proper legal, administrative, and institutional training.